Refutation of the Nasibis and the Rafidites

I have likewise observed that when these people saw the Rafidites carried to extremes in their love for ʿAlī—preferring him above the rank assigned to him by the Messenger of God ﷺ and his Companions, claiming that he shared in the Prophet’s mission, that the Imams from his offspring possess knowledge of the unseen, and espousing other clandestine notions that combine falsehood and unbelief with gross ignorance and folly—they replied with an opposite extremism. They pushed ʿAlī—may God honor his face—to the background and withheld his due. Their speech became distorted, though they did not openly profess to wrong him; yet they assaulted him by unlawfully spilling blood, accused him of colluding in the murder of ʿUthmān —may God be pleased with him—and, in their ignorance, removed him from the ranks of the Imams of guidance and placed him among the leaders of sedition. Because the people differed over his caliphate they refused to grant him that title, whereas they affirmed it for Yazīd ibn Muʿāwiyah on the grounds that the ummah had agreed upon him, and they maligned anyone who mentioned Yazīd in less than favorable terms.

Many traditionists even refrained from relating ʿAlī’s virtues—may God honor his face—or from publicizing what is rightfully his, although every one of those reports possesses authentic chains of transmission. They branded his son al-Ḥusayn—may God be pleased with him—a rebel who shattered the unity of the Muslims and whose blood was licit, citing the Prophet’s words, “Whoever rises up against my community while they are united, kill him, whoever he may be.” They also placed him (ʿAlī) on a par in merit with the members of the consultative council, asserting that had ʿUmar perceived his superiority he would have advanced him over them and would not have made the caliphate their mutual consultation. They ignored anyone who mentioned him or transmitted a report extolling him, so that many traditionists came to shrink from narrating such reports, while devoting themselves to compiling the merits of ʿAmr ibn al-ʿĀṣ and Muʿāwiyah—as though their real aim were not to honor those men but to diminish him. If someone were to say, “ʿAlī is the brother of the Messenger of God ﷺ, the father of his two grandsons al-Ḥasan and al-Ḥusayn, the Companion of the Cloak is ʿAlī…”